Every dry hop is a gusher?

[Slainte-brew]

I just opened my last beer and again I am waiting over the sink to pour a bottle. It seems like everything I dry hop turns into a gusher. It has been extract and all grain, hops from different vendors. I can't figure out what it is. I have never, knock on wood, had an infection or any other sanitation issues. Any suggestions?

 

[b-boy]

Are you pre-sanitizing everything prior to dry hopping? I spray the hell out of everything when I dry hop. This includes the hop packaging. I usualy soak it in Starsan for 10 minutes before I use it just to make sure. Many times I will replace the existing airlock with a new sanitized one as well. You can't be too careful.

 

[Effingbeer]

What is your process? Rack to secondary? How long do you wait to dry-hop? How long do you do it for? I like to rack it, wait 5 days, add hops for about 5 days(give or take depending on the aroma/flavor) then bottle.
Racking adds a little oxygen and may revitalize the yeast in suspension for a couple days which can drop your FG a couple points. If you bottle too soon and add priming sugar you can over-carb.

 

[jnrankin]

Do you do a thorough job of filtering the dry hop particles before bottling? I had the same problem until I started using a fine mesh bag to contain my dry hops. I believe the leftover particles provide nucleation sites for CO2 if they make it into the bottle (sort of like dropping mentos into diet coke).

 

[usfmikeb]

Do you do a thorough job of filtering the dry hop particles before bottling? I had the same problem until I started using a fine mesh bag to contain my dry hops. I believe the leftover particles provide nucleation sites for CO2 if they make it into the bottle (sort of like dropping mentos into diet coke).

This sounds very plausible, unless the OP has a problem with either his hop source or storage that's resulted in an organism that leads to infected beer.

 

[Slainte-brew]

I spray the hop bag and scissors with star San. These are all commercial hops. I usually wait 2-3 weeks and check FG, dry hop in primary for 5-7 days and then bottle. Maybe it's hop material in the bottles nucleating the beer.

Edited: typing to fast, don't use a secondary

 

[HollisBT]

Do you use your secondary for all of your beers? Or just those that you dry hop.

 

[Slainte-brew]

Sorry typing in a hurry on a smart phone and not thinking. I dry hop in primary. Glass carboys, better bottles, ale pails doesn't matter. I don't have infections elsewhere. I think that is might be nucleation on the hop material, I don't notice a lot of hops but there are some.

 

[Effingbeer]

So, maybe both scenarios. Whether you add pellets or whole hops, you are introducing oxygen-as soon as you open the nitrogen flushed bag those hops are full of air- onto a primary yeast cake. You don't strain them out, so when you bottle there is nucleation first for a little yeast who happens to be a little more plentiful and awake and second for the CO2 when you pop the top.
I would bet straining them out would solve both problems. And sometimes those little hop bits burn your throat.

 

[bd2xu]

I'll second this. Just had the second gusher out of my batch of IPA. It's my 4th batch and two of the others were dry hopped. Most of the beers in this batch are fine but this the second that gushed and I noticed hop particles flying around inside the bottle as it gushed. Going to start dry hopping using a bag, I've been just dumping it in.

 

[duboman]

Gushers are usually from over carbonation, not being refrigerated long enough before opening or infection, not just from dry hopping. If you are finding hops in your packaged product then your process is off and needs refining but I do not think that should cause a gusher by itself.

Was every bottle a gusher or just some? You might try cold crashing your beer before bottling to be sure everything drops out and then rack carefully avoiding the trub. What are you using to sanitize and clean your bottles and caps? How are you calculating your priming sugar?

 

[jeremy0209]

The only time I've ever had gushers it was because of an infection that set up camp in the spigot on my bottling bucket.....and I dry hop all the time.

 

[Slainte-brew]

I probably should be waiting longer for hops to settle out, I don't want to wait too long and get vegetal flavors. There is nothing that makes me think it is an infection. I use star San on everything and no other batches have any problems, just dry hopped. I usually cold crash for 2 to 3 days before bottling. I have bottles in the fridge for weeks and it still happens. I watched a bottle immediately foam up, so bad that all yeast that was settled on the bottom was lifted into suspension. I use tastybrew to calculate sugars, and again don't have problems with any other kinds of batches. It's not like there are tons of hop pieces floating around, and its not every bottle but its a lot. I really do think its nucleation.

 

[duboman]

I probably should be waiting longer for hops to settle out, I don't want to wait too long and get vegetal flavors. There is nothing that makes me think it is an infection. I use star San on everything and no other batches have any problems, just dry hopped. I usually cold crash for 2 to 3 days before bottling. I have bottles in the fridge for weeks and it still happens. I watched a bottle immediately foam up, so bad that all yeast that was settled on the bottom was lifted into suspension. I use tastybrew to calculate sugars, and again don't have problems with any other kinds of batches. It's not like there are tons of hop pieces floating around, and its not every bottle but its a lot. I really do think its nucleation.

Ok....but
1. Gushers are a sign of infection
2. Not happening in every bottle is another precursor to an infection from the occasional bad bottle

If it was a general batch infection or a racking issue it would effect the entire batch. I dry hop a lot, in primary and secondary and I've never experienced what you describe, not saying it can't happen but not IME and I only bottle

 

[bd2xu]

Sounds then in my case it may be a couple of my bottles were not 100% clean. When I'm done with my bottles I rinse them well with water and store them. Then on bottling day I thoroughly rinse each in a bucket of star San and put on a bottling tree until I bottle. I've only had two gushers in this batch and I've been through about half of it. So I'm thinking I must have had some gunk in those bottles.

 

[Slainte-brew]

I think calling it gusher is my fault. I truly do think it is a nucleation of all available co2. If it is an infection then how is it not affecting my other beers that i bottled in between these. Smoked porter, no problem; dry hopped pale ale, extreme foaming; berry wheat , no problem ; IPA dry hopped , foam.

I have had 1 infection in bottles before and it was totally different. There is no crud in these bottles, no off taste or smell, nothing different between non foaming bottles and foaming. Just like bd2xu it was just a couple of bottles and it was obvious. I know it could be infection or wild yeast, but it only happens with my dry hopped beers. Would commercially bought sealed hops have something to contaminate my beer? If so then how does this not happen to others? My next beer is going to get dry hopped and I will use a bag and see if that helps.

I don't know what else to change with sanitation because i am fairly thorough. This isn't a handful of bottles, this is half a batch. I rinse every bottle after use, clean with oxy and rinse, then in bottling day hot water rinse and starsan. Could brewing outside be introducing wild yeasts? It just seems puzzling. If I was getting other infections I would agree that is the problem, but I haven't had anything for 3 years since I had a few bottles go bad and before that nothing. Maybe I am over carbing, but it is happening from bottles at the beginning and end. Usually you would think over carbing would be all your beers or just your first bottled from the priming sugar not mixing.

 

[duboman]

If you are cold crashing your beer and leaving them in the fridge for weeks before opening them, that should be more than enough to get things settled out and force the CO2 into solution in the bottles. No I do not think the sealed bags of hops could be the problems and unless you are leaving a lot of hop particles in the beer I would be surprised it's nucleation.

Your bottle cleaning and sanitation seem fine so the next thing to look at is priming sugar. You said you are using a calculator. How much sugar are you using? .75-1oz per finished gallon of beer is the norm for most styles and it should be measured by weight, not by cups. There can be a huge difference between the two. The sugar should be boiled in 1-2 cups of water, cooled and the beer racked onto it. After transfer, a gentle swirl with a sanitized spoon ensures a good mix. If you are using more sugar or not getting a good mix you can experience bottles that get over carbonated and cause gushers as well.

It is weird that this issue is only with your dry hopped beers but like I said, I typically brew 200 gallons a year and have been for several years, I only bottle and do plenty of dry hopping and never have I had this type of problem associated with dry hopped beers versus non. Running out of ideas............

 

[Effingbeer]

So when you do your next one can you at least rack to the bottling bucket through a hop bag? That removes one large variable. I do not think infection is your problem because you can usually pick up on that with smell and taste.

 

[SurlyBrew]

I dry hop 90% of my beers and I have had no issue. Hop particles in bottled beer shouldn't be the issue here. Something else in your sanitation process must be causing this issue.

 

[Odin_Brews]

Last night I cracked an IPA, third bottle of the night, first two were fine, third was a gusher. I noticed quite a bit of hop particles floating around in the beer compared to previous bottles.

So basically Im saying I like the nucleation idea. It was probably one of the last few bottles and I was tipping the carboy and getting greedy, hence the hop crap

 

[jeremy0209]

If it is an infection then how is it not affecting my other beers that i bottled in between these.

This question is impossible to answer because we don't know what equipment you have. For example: do you have more than one bottling bucket? do you have more than one spigot? multiple racking canes? how about tubing? In my experience with this, I had two spigots that I was working with and one of them was harboring an infection. when I used the other spigot, I didn't have a problem. When the problem first showed up, I didn't even consider sanitation as the issue...trust me, I spray, rinse, and soak everything...multiple times. Yeah, I'm anal about sanitation. The problem turned out to be that one of my three piece spigots (you know, the one's that rotate and are not really meant to be disassembled) was harboring bacteria in between the two main pieces. I've since gone to a two piece spigot that's meant to be taken apart and cleaned....and it's the only one I use for bottling. I keep everything consistent so I don't go chasing my tail again. Your problem sure sounds like an infection to me.

 

[Slainte-brew]

I am going to try dry hopping in a bag, screen bag over the end I my auto siphon and same recipe and see how that goes. I am bottling a batch tomorrow, not dry hopped, not going to change anything. I already have the grain ordered for the exact same recipe. If this next batch goes weird with the changes to the hopping then ill start to look at infection. Thanks for the input everyone.